


The Birthday Song

by Gaia_bing



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Drabble, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-01 20:26:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15151175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaia_bing/pseuds/Gaia_bing
Summary: Four birthdays, four different situations...Almost always the same result.





	The Birthday Song

**Author's Note:**

> There you go, a Steve Rogers b-day ficlet by me. Hope you guys enjoy! :)

_"Happy birthday to me."_

  
He is 92 years old, somewhere in a New York he doesn't recognize, sometimes in a year that he shouldn't be in.

  
He's bought himself a cupcake from a nearby market, one of the few things that haven't changed over the last 70 years, with chocolate frosting and a single candle and he sits there, looking at recollections,

  
Stories,

  
Pictures,

  
Of himself,

  
Of them all,

  
And most importantly, _him_.

  
Sure, waking up was hard...

  
But it wasn't as nearly as harrowing than when he'd realized that he'd woken up inside a world without his whole universe,

  
His greatest treasure,

  
The greatest gift life had ever given him,

  
_Again_.

  
So Steve Rogers sits there, looks at souvenirs of long ago, sighs out of loneliness, blows out his single candle on his small cupcake, without making a wish...

  
And silently sings to himself in front of the picture of James Buchanan Barnes.

  
****************

  
_"Happy birthday to me."_

  
He is 95 years old, somewhere in a country he hadn't heard of before just now, sometimes in a year when everything went into disarray.

  
He's holding a cupcake with chocolate frosting and a single candle, and he sits there...

  
But this time, he wasn't the one that bought it.

  
No, this time it was a gift from...

  
The person he's looking at right now,

  
In white,

  
Missing an arm,

  
Sleeping,

  
At peace?

  
Maybe.

  
_Him._

  
His whole universe,

  
His greatest treasure,

  
The greatest gift life had ever given him.

  
He doesn't know when the other man will be free but when he is, the blond will be waiting for him...

  
That is the wish, no, the promise that he makes as Steve Rogers, looks at the love of his life, sighs in restlessness, blows out his single candle on his small cupcake,

  
And silently sings to himself in front of the frozen form of James Buchanan Barnes.

  
**************

  
He is 97 years old, somewhere he...

  
He...

  
He doesn't really know where he is.

  
And quite frankly, he doesn't really care.

  
He'd thought he'd lived hell before...

  
Hydra,

  
The train,

  
The plane...

  
But this,

  
The sometimes that he's in right now?

  
It's pure agony.

  
Someone, he doesn't know who,

  
Has brought a small cupcake to his table, with chocolate frosting and a single candle,

  
And Steve Rogers tries to silently sing to himself...

  
_"Happy... birth...day...dear..."_

  
...Dear..?

  
Loser?

  
Traitor?

  
Half of humanity's killer?

  
He doesn't know who he is anymore.

  
No, he thinks once again, Steve Rogers knows _exactly_ who he is:

  
_His_  killer.

  
His throat can't form the next syllable to the simple song, it's too constricted to do so.

His lungs gulps like back in the day and he gets out of wherever he was as fast as he can as he realizes...

  
His whole universe,

  
His greatest treasure,

  
The greatest gift life had ever given him,

  
Will never be with him ever again,

  
And it is all his fault,

  
_Again._

  
And so Steve Rogers sits there, sighs in sorrow, looks at the stars above,

  
Leaving behind his single candle on his single cupcake,

  
And begins to weep in front of a world without James Buchanan Barnes.

  
**************

  
He is 98 years old...

  
And he's home.

  
Home, he comes to find out, isn't a place,

  
Nor is it a time...

  
It's the people that makes a home.

  
The people that he loses, the people that he gains, the people that he loses then regains again.

  
The people that he fights and the people that he befriends.

  
There is no cupcake, no chocolate frosting, no single candle this time around,

  
But Steve Rogers doesn't care,

  
Because home is here,

  
In his arms,

  
Long hair wrapped around his fingers,

  
An one-armed body wrapped around his waist,

  
His whole universe,

  
His greatest treasure,

  
The greatest gift life had ever given him,

  
Softly sings by his ear...

  
_"Happy birthday to you."_

  
And so Steve Rogers lays there, sighs in pure contentment,

  
Needing no candle nor stars to grant his greatest wish,

  
As he kisses and begins to make love to James Buchanan Barnes.


End file.
